Randi Bennett is a senior at CMU who spoke at the protest. She said as a self-described non-feminine female she’s been afraid to go into female-identified bathrooms.

“That fear came because I have been yelled out of restrooms, I have been beaten out of restrooms, I have been told I’m in the wrong place, I have been told that god doesn’t love me because I’m in a woman’s restroom.”

Bennett said over the course of her time at CMU she’s become more comfortable going where she wants to on campus, until the election…

“I don’t feel safe anymore because I see what is happening to people like me.”

Dustin Drew is a senior at CMU. He said the protests won’t change the results of the election, they’re about showing solidarity.

“Right now what we’re doing is showing that you do have allies. If you’re gay you do have allies, if you’re black you do have white allies. This is basically just a way to show people the fight that you are fighting is not alone.”

Nick Weiler is a freshman at CMU. He said he came to see what the protests were about.

“It’s their second amendment right so they have the right to exercise it and I think they’re doing a great job and nobody’s getting hurt. That’s great.”

Weiler said he feels the negativity is coming from the Anti-Trump people.

“I haven’t said anything to them, I don’t think a lot of the people here who are for Donald Trump have ever said anything negative. It’s mostly, you see on social media, ‘anti-trump’ this, ‘he’s not my president.’ I think that’s where the most aggressive thing is. If you’re not feeling safe on campus maybe you should look in a mirror.”

Kevin Goodwin is a freshman. He said the protest are embarrassing.

“The people here are grown adults and they are crying and complaining because they didn’t get their way and unfortunately for them that’s not how politics works and that’s not how life works”

As for feeling safe, Goodwin said, he gets why it’s important, but people should give Trump a chance.

“My feeling is if you work with Donald Trump and if you work with more conservative parties then I think safety as far as they know it can go a lot better than they think.”

For someone like Jordan Miller, a trans student who spoke at the protest, that isn’t his experience.

“I was just walking back to my dorm back in northern campus and I had someone who was alone in their car, there was no reason for him to be quite yelling out the window like this and he yelled ‘fucking faggot’ before driving off down the street.”

Miller said it was the first time he experienced something like that at CMU.

Carolyn Dunn is with the Office of Inclusion and Institutional Diversity on Campus. She said she was pleased to see students from both sides of the political spectrum at the demonstration.

“I just want to make sure that the students are safe and that we are having a dialogue with each other that’s respectful. We may not always agree but at least we are civil and at least we are responsible.”

For many of the protesters, the goal wasn’t to undo the election, but to show their fellow students that on campus they’re safe.